by Jason Deas
As he neared he realized a four-wheeler had been dumped in the creek. A clumsy attempt had been made to cover it with mud, but the ATV was too big to hide. Searching the ground, he found footprints leading up the small bank and into the woods. The ground had been disturbed as well as branches in the immediate vicinity. The smell of fresh earth filled his nostrils and an unusually large mound of leaves and pine straw piqued his curiosity.
Getting down on all fours, Cam began pawing at the ground, digging under the leaves like a dog. Under the mound of leaves he found freshly tossed dirt and knew he had found what he’d been looking for. Reaching in the soft earth he grabbed something hard yet still pliable. It reminded him of a large root. He pulled until it stopped and grabbed his light. Shining the light on the object he fell back in shock as he saw an arm protruding from the ground. It was missing a hand.
Chapter Fifteen
Fueled with the knowledge that Claude had set Billy up for murder, Cam tore through the trees, running back toward his vehicle. He couldn’t believe that Claude had the audacity to lead Billy to the site of his own murder. He also couldn’t fathom the fact that Claude had made him an accessory to the murder by having him deliver the map.
Once in the car, he prayed once again that it would crank. It did and Cam drove away chugging coffee straight from his carafe. His breathing returned to normal as he reached town. He slowed the car and carefully drove through it. He only had to make it two miles before he would be on back roads again. He didn’t make it. Blue lights flashed behind his car and Cam’s heart nearly stopped. He instinctively breathed into his hand trying to smell his own breath. As he popped a piece of cinnamon gum in his mouth he tried to calculate how long it had been since he had his last drink. He hoped he was safe.
He chugged more coffee as the officer approached and chewed furiously on the gum. He lowered his window.
“Out awfully late, ain’t ya?”
“I’m a private investigator,” Cam tried.
“Well, even private investigators have to have car tags in this town.”
Dammit. The tag. I forgot to put it back on.
“It’s in the trunk. One of the screws fell off and I was afraid it would fall off,” he lied.
“Let’s see it,” the officer challenged.
“No problem.” Turning the car off, Cam took the cinnamon gum on a trip around his mouth with his tongue, making sure to run it over all his gums. He took another swig of coffee and swished it around his mouth as well.
“You drinking?”
“Just coffee,” Cam answered with a forced smile, handing the officer his carafe. “It’s the official drink of private investigators on stakeouts.” The officer took the carafe and sniffed at its opening.
“Fine. Open the trunk and let’s have a look at this tag you say is in there.” The tone of his voice sounded disbelieving.
Cam tried to steady his shaking hand as he inserted the key into the trunk’s lock. With the trunk open, he grabbed the license plate and noticed the two screws were sitting next to it. Shielding the view of the inside of the trunk, he turned his body, picked up the plate, and palmed one of the screws with the other hand. As one hand offered the plate to the officer the other flicked the screw off the side of the road. The officer glanced at the plate, retrieved a flashlight off his belt, and held it inside the trunk.
“Yep. Plate’s good and there’s your one screw.” He handed the plate back to Cam. “You know we have a hardware store in town that sells screws.”
Cam nodded, not wanting to open his mouth in case any of his breath were to reach the officer’s nose.
“Probably cost you two nickels.”
“Done, tomorrow,” he said quickly, closing his mouth again.
The officer looked at his watch. “It’s already tomorrow. Do it today.”
Cam nodded again. The officer turned and walked back to his car without another word.
At home, Cam fell onto his bed with all his clothes on after setting his alarm clock. The past few days, Claude had shown up to drive him to work at nine. Cam wanted to be showered and ready, waiting for his arrival. After three deep breaths he slept.
At eight, his alarm sounded and he opened his eyes with confusion. He hadn’t moved an inch. Sitting up and turning the alarm off he felt unusually refreshed. I guess this is what it feels like to fall asleep naturally and not black out.
Quickly stripping off his clothes and tossing them in the hamper his thoughts turned to Claude as he dashed to the shower. The warm water felt good running down his face as he closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth in the stream. He could’ve stood there all day, but coffee and his confrontation with Claude awaited.
With two pieces of bread in the toaster and the coffee dripping he felt ready. When the toast popped, he set the slices on a plate, grabbed the peanut butter, his cup of java, and sat poised at the table for his guest. Cam had finished a half cup of coffee and one piece of toast when he heard the truck in the driveway.
Claude put his key in the door and pushed it open. Once inside he immediately stopped, sniffing the air. He held up one hand, struck a pose, and said in a Shakespearean voice, “Something is awry in the house of Caldwell.”
“I beg to differ,” Cam said. “Something is awry in the house of Claude. And I don’t want any part of it. Unfortunately, it’s too late for that.”
Claude entered the kitchen as Cam calmly spread peanut butter on his second piece of toast. He looked up to Claude and Claude dropped his eyes.
“What on God’s green earth are you talking about?”
“Sit down.”
“Aren’t you going to point your little gun at me? You seem to like to do that.”
“If it makes you feel better.” He had put his Glock in the seat next to him in case something unexpected happened. Picking it up, he pointed the barrel at Claude’s chest and said, “Sit down.”
“Thank you,” Claude said, with a genuine smile. “Now I feel at home. You haven’t pointed your gun at me in forty-eight hours. I was starting to think you didn’t love me anymore. Now everything is normal.” He paused. “Except for you acting paranoid and your head is obviously full of something irrational. What frightens me the most is that you are awake.”
“What frightens me is this.” Cam reached for the map, which lay in the same chair the gun had been in and tossed it to the middle of the table.
“You’re scared of maps?” Claude said, with an attempted chuckle. “And when did you copy that?”
“I copied it in Daphne’s office. But that’s beside the point.” Claude threw his hands up. “I went to the place last night on the map. The spot you led Billy to.” Claude threw his hands up again. Cam tried to make eye contact with him and once again Claude looked away.
“Who else knows about this map?” Cam demanded.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t find a still there, but I did find something else very interesting.”
“What?”
“Billy Prescott’s body.”
“Uh oh.”
“Uh oh is right. Who else knew about this map?”
“I need to make a few visits.”
“And then you’ll tell me?”
“It looks like I’m going to have to, doesn’t it?” Cam nodded his head. “I’ll call the council together at four at Daphne’s after she closes. Can you sit on it until then? Please?”
Cam nodded his head again, “The council?”
At four on the dot, Cam walked into Daphne’s. He didn’t see a soul. I’ve been duped. I bet they moved the body. I’m so stupid!
“We’re back here,” someone called from the back. “Lock the door and come on back.”
Cam turned the lock and breathed a sigh of relief. He entered the back of the restaurant to find a round table with Daphne, Claude, Hank, and Turner sitting around it. There was an extra chair for him.
“Have a seat,” Hank instructed. He was all business. When Cam was seated, he
continued. “Welcome to a meeting of the council. This is a secret meeting and all the information you hear stays here.” Cam nodded in agreement. “Daphne told me that she informed you how she and Claude got involved in this. Is that true?”
“Yeah. She told me when her father died you offered to buy her and Claude out and they chose to take over his part instead of selling.”
“That’s correct. I guess you’re now wondering how Turner fits into all this?”
“I figured he might be part of the distribution aspect of the operation.”
“He is. He’s also in charge of the equipment. Turner can fabricate just about any kind of machinery or gadget you can imagine. He’s made some genius designs when it comes to modern day stills.”
“OK. What about the map? Did everybody know about it? And did Claude tell you what I found when I went to the area marked as the site of the still?”
“Yes, everybody knew about the map. It was created at our last council meeting a few days ago. And yes, Claude told us how you discovered Billy’s body there last night. Seems we have a pretty big problem on our hands.”
“I’d say. Hank, I like all of you and you’ve all treated me as family in the short time I’ve been in town, but I can’t just sweep this under the rug. I’m a law man. I may not be officially working for anybody at the moment, but I also can’t ignore what I now know.”
“We agree,” Hank said. “We took a vote before you got here and it was unanimous that you have our blessing to share what you know with Officer Gomez.
“You did?” Everybody around the table nodded. “What a minute,” he said as the sinking feeling came rushing back that they had moved the body. “Did you guys move the body today?”
“Hell no,” Hank said. “We know it doesn’t look good for us right now, but nothing would be worse than going to the site and accidentally leaving some sort of trace evidence. As we see it, as of now the site may only have evidence you left and whoever the real killer is.” For some reason he looked at Turner.
“I don’t believe this,” Cam said trying to wrap his head around the situation. “Am I being set up? Are you all using me as a fall guy to get your little problem out of the way?”
“No, Cam,” Daphne assured. “We’re not. We may be doing something illegal by making moonshine, but we’re not evil.”
Cam had wanted to show up at the meeting sober so he could look everyone in the eye to see if he could see who killed Billy Prescott, but the waiting had been too much and the hours too long. He was a long way from drunk, but too many drinks in to be able to use his gift.
“So I have the council’s blessing to go to Blanca?”
“There are a few conditions,” Hank said.
“Oh, here we go.”
“Nothing major. Just remember that the council is secret. You can’t tell her about this meeting. You can only tell her how you came into possession of the map.”
“Claude gave it to me.”
“He dropped it and you picked it up.”
“But he really gave it to me.”
“He dropped it,” Hank said again, with a look that would have frightened a serial killer.
“OK, he dropped it,” Cam conceded. “I guess it doesn’t make that big of a difference if he gave it to me or dropped it. She’ll still know it came from him.”
“Then we’re finished here,” Hank said. Everyone nodded in agreement. “Meeting adjourned.” As soon as he announced that the meeting was over, his face changed back to the friendly guy Cam had met at the gas station. “I brought you a cold beer you gotta try. A six-pack actually. Friend of mine over in Dahlonega makes it in small batches.”
He opened one of Daphne’s giant coolers and pulled out the brews. The brown bottles were in a Budweiser six-pack container. Walking over to a stainless steel table he picked up an opener and popped the top on one of the beers and handed it to Cam. It had a homemade label that read Killer Creek Beers. Hank gave him the bottle with a wink.
Chapter Sixteen
After one beer, Cam called it quits and went back to his office to call Blanca. She was just finishing her shift and about to head home.
“I’ve already given you your two rides this week, call somebody else.”
“Come to my office,” Cam instructed, “I found Billy’s body.”
“Don’t move,” she said, slamming her phone down and running for the door.
Less than five minutes later she pulled up in front of his building and skidded to a stop. Blanca ran to his door.
“You better not be pulling my leg,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
“I’m not. I can take you there right now.”
“Did you touch anything?”
“Just his stump.”
“Tell me about it on the way there.”
In her car, Cam stayed true to the word he’d given the council. He lied about how he’d seen Claude drop something from his pocket and how he picked it up. He further spun the tale to say he meant to give it back, but when he looked up Claude had disappeared. He told her how he made a copy, went back to his office, and set the map on the bar. Billy Prescott arrived inquiring about his services a few minutes later. Before he knew it Billy had picked it up.
Blanca put on her blinker a moment before Cam said, “Turn here.” He thought it odd, but didn’t say anything. Before the next turn he noticed the car beginning to slow and gave her instructions, eyeing her suspiciously. Blanca looked at him and quickly averted her eyes back to the road. When they arrived at the same spot where he’d parked his car he told her to stop.
Out of the car, Cam watched as Blanca pointed her body in the direction where the body was buried. She began to walk into the woods when Cam said, “Wait. It’s this way. Where’re you going?”
He took two steps into the woods in the opposite direction and watched her face. She looked confused.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “I’m turned around. It’s this way.” He wasn’t sure, but in his mind her face brightened a touch.
Cam turned into the woods and walked straight to the body. The stump of Billy’s arm was still protruding from the earth, although it looked as though it had been gnawed on or pecked at by some sort of animal.
“My God,” Blanca said, seeing the stump. “It has to be him.”
“His four-wheeler is in the creek over there,” Cam said, pointing. “You don’t seem to be bothered this time.”
“My mind was prepared. I need to call my crime team in here to do the forensics and extract the body. We need to take pictures before we touch anything.” She paused. “You’re looking at me funny. How much have you had to drink today?”
“Clearly not enough,” he said, pulling a flask from his pocket. Unscrewing the top he looked for her to protest. She didn’t and he took a long drink. “I have a theory to float.”
“We both know Claude did this.”
“I’m not so sure.” Cam took another drink already knowing he was too far gone to find answers in her eyes. “You seemed to know how to get here without me telling you. You took the first turn before I told you and you slowed for the second before I said anything.” She didn’t say a word. “When we got here, you were going to walk straight to the body if I hadn’t said anything. You’re not a very good poker player.”
“OK. Confession time,” she said, taking a step toward Cam. She reached out and stroked his arm. “I saw the map yesterday.”
“What?”
“After Billy left your office he came to see me and showed me the map. He told me he had hired you and wanted to know if he could trust you or not. I didn’t know somebody was going to be killed there.”
“Then why did you have to keep it a secret?”
“Because after we talked about you we had a fight. Unfortunately, my temper got the best of me and I threatened to kill him in front of two of my officers. The fight spilled out of my office. When I said it the officers were standing right there. So was Alice Prescott. She had seen Billy’s
truck at the station and came in to confront him about something. I guess she felt safe dealing with him in the station.”
“What were the two of you fighting about?”
“The same old thing we always fight about. The moonshine business and him getting the land he wants. He keeps threatening to fire me if I don’t make an arrest. Every time he threatens to fire me, I threaten to run against him in the next election. He knows the way he’s treated women in this town that I’d get virtually every female vote, the Hispanic vote, and a fair share of the males. He wouldn’t have ever said it while he was alive, but I think he knows I would beat him.”
“Would you really want that job?”
“Yeah. I even filled out the paperwork to run next year. I pulled the papers out of my desk and showed him when he said he was going to fire me. He lost his mind and said he would have me fired by the end of the month. He said something about how he thought I was in cahoots with the illegal business and if he had to he would plant some booze on me and send me up the river.”
“And that’s when you lost it?”
“No, I lost it when he called my old boss Chief Lee the ‘c’ word.”
“Crazy?”
“No,” she paused, “rhymes with hunt.”
“Oh, no.”
“He said she was probably in on it too and I was just carrying on her crooked tradition of a backwoods cop.”
“Well, we’ve certainly got a mess on our hands here. It’s a good thing you never filed those papers to run against him.”
Blanca looked at the ground. “I was so mad when he left yesterday I went straight to the courthouse and filed.”
“Ugh,” Cam sputtered. “Make your phone calls and we’ll figure all this out later. Maybe there’s something under all that dirt that will point us to a killer. Until then, I’m afraid you’re going to have to live under a small umbrella of suspicion.”
“Help me,” she said, with the sweetest look Cam had ever seen. Blanca took another step toward him and put her hands on his hips as if they were slow dancing. “I need you.”